32 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



a wearisome amount of bargaining and trials, carried us 

 fairly successfully, we often wished for better mounts. 

 We made a great mistake in using the wide wooden 

 native saddles, which even with the aid of pads and a 

 sheepskin became exceedingly uncomfortable at the end 

 of a long day's march. Quite the mount for our journey 

 would have been a bicycle. The desert tracks, at all 

 events as far south as we travelled, are quite hard and 

 smooth enough to make bicycling possible and often 

 enjoyable. 



A permit to travel as far south as we cared to go on 

 the east bank of the White Nile was granted us, but 

 we were prohibited on account of the unsettled state of 

 the country from journeying on the west bank at all. 

 This somewhat altered my plans as I had hoped to be 

 able to make several excursions into Kordofan from the 

 west bank. 



Licenses to carry arms and to shoot were also necessary. 

 By licensing each gun, rifle, or revolver, instead of the 

 user, the authorities make a distinct gain for the 

 Revenue. Some very fair game laws have also been 

 drawn up for the Soudan. No one is allowed to kill the 

 zebra or the ostrich. A special license authorises the 

 holder to kill a very limited number of adult male 

 buffalo, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, and rhino- 



